Small business owners face a variety of unique challenges that often set them apart from large corporations. And even for challenges that are similar across the board, the resources that a small business has at its fingertips tend to be much smaller, so you need to be sure your efforts are concise, appropriate and effective.
If your business has a website that has been less than successful and it is not garnering the kind of traction you had hoped for, then it’s time to make some adjustments. You may not even need to do a total revamp; it could be some simple small tweaks are necessary. So, let’s take a look at how you can take your small business’s website from bland to engaging.
Keep the Layout Sleek and Simple
It can be very tempting to add more elements to the website to “jazz things up”. The problem is that by adding more you can have the opposite effect and end up with something that looks busy and confusing. Visitors will take one look, determine it is a mess and not want to bother with it clicking out as fast as they arrived. All pages should be sleek and simple, sticking to the basics.
Experts often stress the need for white space on a webpage. White space is nothing to fear and can have a very positive effect on the user experience, making them want to stick around and explore further.
Not only should each page be clean looking, but the site itself also needs to be simple to navigate. One of the best ways to improve site navigation is to include a search bar or search tool. This will speed up how quickly visitors can find what they are looking for, thereby increasing your odds of conversions. Another trick is to use drop-down menus to help people arrive at the right section, category or page that much faster.
Are You Using a Variety of Media?
There is nothing more boring for visitors than landing on a website that feels like a wall of text. It’s important to break up the content with graphics, images, videos, audio clips, graphs and so forth. Granted, they still need to be relevant and add to the content, but multi-media does a great job of capturing people’s attention and helps to make things feel engaging.
All Websites Should Be Optimized for Mobile Use
Nowadays there should be no excuse for websites that aren’t optimized for mobile use. What this means is that the site appears and can be navigated the same way on a desktop, laptop and smartphone. It creates uniformity across the board.
Just take a look at the statistics that show how many people have mobile phones nowadays, and how often they use them for online browsing, research and making purchases. You certainly don’t want to cut out an entire market simply because your site isn’t able to display properly on a mobile life.
Add Fresh Content Regularly
If a site looks the same every time you visit it, and there’s never anything new to look forward to, how engaging will it be? This is why it’s important to add fresh content regularly to keep visitors interested and wanting more.
Know When to Admit You’re Out of Your Element
Part of being a successful business owner is knowing when to bring in expertise and skilled professionals to help you reach a goal. In this case, the goal is to create a more engaging website with boosted traffic numbers and higher conversions. Working with a creative agency that not only understands the company’s goals but can offer realistic and effective measures to take can prove invaluable. This saves you time, money and effort so you don’t have to learn through trial and error.
Hiring a marketing agency also means you aren’t wasting the time and resources necessary to revamp the website. Your employees can focus on their current tasks and not be pulled off important projects. Considering your business is small, you likely don’t have the extra employees to spare.
Give Visitors a Way to Reach You
The final tip is to ensure the company is visible and reachable. Provide visitors with a clear way to contact you or customer service should they have any questions or issues. This tip alone can be enough to help increase conversions, as it gives people peace of mind that the company stands behind its products and services, and is willing to speak to customers. You may even want to go so far as to have contact information displayed on each page along the bottom, top or side of the screen.
No matter how you look at it, taking your website from bland to engaging is a process. It requires several steps, tracking your results and being prepared to change course if necessary.
